RoboCop: The Series
'' RoboCop: The Series'' is a 1994 television series based on the film of the same name. It stars Richard Eden as RoboCop. Made to appeal primarily to children and young teens, the graphic violence that was the hallmark of RoboCop and RoboCop 2 is absent. Rather than killing criminals, RoboCop now has several non-lethal alternatives, which ensure that certain villains can be recurring. The OCP Chairman and his corporation are also treated as merely naïve and ignorant, in contrast to their malicious and immoral behavior from the second movie onward. The idea for the Pilot Episode was actually an unused idea from the early writing stages of RoboCop 2. Background While RoboCop was initially an American property, Orion Pictures received a $500,000 cash infusion for TV licensing rights to Canada's Skyvision Entertainment. This allowed access to co-production treaties and possible partnerships with other countries. The series was filmed in Toronto and Mississauga, Canada and originally planned for a January 1994 debut, several months after the unsuccessful release of RoboCop 3. Skyvision was also in negotiation with Peter Weller, the original RoboCop, but this did not come to fruition. Twenty-two episodes were made, but the series was not renewed for a second season. Expense played a significant part in this; according to Skyvision VP Kevin Gillis, episodes would be produced at $1.2 million to $1.5 million each. The pilot episode runs two hours. It was adapted from a discarded RoboCop 2 script, Corporate Wars, by the writers of the original RoboCop, Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. Villains on the series include Boppo the Clown, Dr. Cray Z. Mallardo, OCP executive Chip Chayken, William Ray Morgan aka Pudface, Vlad "Don't call me Stitch" Molotov and Commander Cash (although, in one episode, it is revealed that Commander Cash was actually a misunderstood hero - a former OCP employee who was the real creator of OCP's Commander Cash toy line whose idea was stolen by a co-worker and subsequently terminated from the company due to the said coworker). The series gave writers more of an opportunity to develop the central characters and to extend the human interest aspect through the introduction of Gadget; the station mascot and the adopted, insightful daughter of station Sergeant Parks. Gadget, along with the presence of Jimmy Murphy did much to shift the focus from the adult to the youth target audience. The writers also introduced an element of virtual romance and deus ex machina in the persona of Diana, formerly a secretary to crooked Vice-President Chip Chaykin, who becomes transmogrified through her death into the 'face' and 'body' of Metronet, OCP's city-running super-computer. Many of the episodes were explicitly critical of conservative and libertarian policies, i.e. the privatization of health care and welfare. The ironic handling of many of the negative aspects of modern urban life added a consistent element of black comedy. Cast *RoboCop/Murphy - Richard Eden *Sergeant Stanley Parks - Blu Mankuma *Detective Lisa Madigan - Yvette Nipar *OCP Chairman - David Gardner *Bo Harlan - Dan Duran *Rocky Crenshaw - Erica Ehm *Charlie Lippencott - Ed Sahaly *Diana/NeuroBrain - Andrea Roth *Gadget - Sarah Campbell *Nancy Murphy - Jennifer Griffin *Umberto Ortega - Patrick McKenna *Jimmy Murphy - Peter Costigan *Willam Ray 'Pudface' Morgan - James Kidnie Episodes Episode Synopsis Episode 1 The Future of Law Enforcement (The Pilot Movie). 'William Ray "Pudface" Morgan manages to critically injure Robocop with an anti-tank missile. Meanwhile, Dr. Cray Z. Mallardo transforms OCP secretary Diana Powers into NeuroBrain, the CPU of Delta City's MetroNet, which runs everything in Delta City. She's lost her body to Science; will her mind be next? Featuring the first appearances of Gadget (a foster kid from Family Services who gives Robo his first lead in the "Dogtown Ripper" case), Pudface Morgan (Robo's most persistent nemesis), Dr. Cray Z. Mallardo (inventor of MetroNet and NeuroBrain) and OCP executive Chip Chayken (both of whom are also very persisitent). Diana starts to realize what has happened to her, as Dr. Mallardo schemes to shut her down and take control of OCP. Officer Lisa Madigan, RoboCop's partner, brazenly crashes an OCP board meeting, giving the Chairman of OCP the incentive he needs to repair Robocop and help the police. Robo is repaired, but his memory is scrambled by Chaken. Diana manages to repair him, though, and Robo arrests Dr. Mallardo and Chayken, saving OCP and Diana. NeuroBrain had many failures before it succeeded with Diana. The reason: they needed a living human brain. Unfortunately, when they experimented with street people from the "Dogtown" slums, their brains couldn't take the strain. Their discarded bodies led to the "Dogtown Ripper" case for the DPD. They finally settled on Diana Powers' brain because she was much younger and had experienced less trauma. It worked. Also featured is the beginning of Robo's unspoken agreement with the Chairman: Robo will continue to enjoy OCP's complete support, while in exchange, Robo will bail out the Chairman and OCP whenever they get into trouble they can't get out of (which is nearly every episode). Also, RoboCop refuses to divulge his true identity to his family. '''Episode 2 Prime Suspect. '''The episode begins with an advertisment for 142 braindead soldiers that OCP has in stasis. Commander Cash is asking for a donation of just $5000 and you can keep a cryo chamber running for years. He claims it would be a nice gift. You can even put your name on it. Ths turns into Mediabreak where they report that OCP want to build an army of RoboCops. At Metro South Mayor Friendly is being shown evidence, recorded by RoboCop, of him dealing with the Russian Mafia. "No comment," he says and he leaves. He then gets into a car with the head of the Russian Mafia. He assures him that RoboCop will be dealt with. A Reverend, who is also a TV tabloid host gathers with his flock outside the station. "DOWN WITH ROBOCOP" they chant as they march up and down. They march into the station and demand that RoboCop be shut down as he has no soul. He calls RoboCop the tool of Satan. They all eventually leave but Murphy is bothered about what the Reverend said. He visits the church where he got married and where Jimmy was christened. He has flashbacks and then Diana arrives and comforts him. The Reverend is sitting in a hot tub with a lady friend when he is shot by someone using thermographic imaging. RoboCop finds himself a fugitive when the arrogant Reverend is shot dead with bullets from an Auto 9. As RoboCop's Auto 9 is the only one and can only be fired by him it doesn't look good. RoboCop also claims that due to Directive 1 he cannot say where he was at the time of the murder. Detective Madigan must prove him innocent before OCP shuts him down--permanently. After convincing OCP to give him a hearing like any human officer, Madigan is taken hostage by RoboCop. In their squad car RoboCop is examining his gun while madigan is drivng showing that the hostage situation was staged. They are chased to a riverside deadend by a small fleet of police vehicles. Madigan steps out of the car after RoboCop says "You know where to find me." She is recovered by two of the officers. RoboCop ignores orders to get out of the vehicle. He slowly creeps forward prompting them to open fire. He then reverses into the river. The car is pulled from the river but there's no sign of RoboCop. RoboCop is seen entering a sewer tunnel. The mayor has voluntered for a lie detector test to prove his innocence. Madigan questions him. All results have a 50% probability. His voice cannot be tested. The Reverend's widow storms in claiming it is an outrage. Much to the Mayor's dismay she reveals that they were together the night of her husbands murder. It checks out 99.9%. The Mayor looks embarrased. RoboCop is still travelling through the sewers. Smith of OCP Internal Affairs is studying Alex Murphy's file for an insight into RoboCop's actions. He notices he was religeous and decides to check his family church. RoboCop punches his way into the church basement and has further flashbacks of his family. Madigan arrives at the church and starts to look for RoboCop. Smith turns up at the church and notices Madigans car outside. He calls the Delta Swat Team and goes inside. He finds Madigan talking to RoboCop and tries to arrest him. RoboCop shoots the stairs he is standing on and they collapse. He heads back into the sewers and Madigan is arrested. Smith follows RoboCop into the sewers. Smith is joined by the Swat team. Due to trigger happy OCP executive the ceiling is shot and caves in but not before he hits RoboCop in the chest seriously damaging him. He calls Diana who send a hologram message of him to the station. Gadget is sitting in Charlie's chair when RoboCop appears as a ghostly image sitting in the corner. Gadget goes into the cabinet and pulls out a prototype of RoboCop's circuitry. He records the image and repairs himself. Diana asks why he can't use her as an alibi. He explains that people would not understand what she was. That was what he had ben protecting. Diana does a search and finds that guy who created the Auto 9, Dr. Young of Cybertech. RoboCop escapes the sewer and calls the station. Gadget tells him that Charlie has gone to see Dr. Young at Cybertech. RoboCop is worried that he is in danger. Charlie enters Dr. Young's ofice and noticed he has the prototype for RoboCop's helmet. Dr. Young claims that it is against OCP policy and asks that he not say anything. Charli understnds as he still has his prototype. He asks Dr. Young if he thinks the prototype for he Auto 9 is still around when Dr. Young pulls it from his case and aims it at Charli. Charlie realises that Young killed the Reverend using the gun and the helmet. He framed RoboCop so he could perform an autopsy on him when they shut him down. He wanted to uncover the mystery behind RoboCop's working. Most people think it's a fluke but he believes he can find the answer. Smith, his team and Madigan arrive at Cybertech. They enter th office and a shoot out follows. Young uses the helmet to see in the dark. Using his own thermographic imaging RoboCop shoots the gun from Young's hand and arrests him. NOTE: This episode plays out like a remake of "The Fugitive" movie, with Robocop in the role of Kimball. Even going so far as to replicate the Kimball/Gerard face off in the sewers down to the dialogue. This Episode was based on the "Prime Suspect" Dark Horse comic. '''Episode 3 Trouble In Delta City. '''Delta City's citizens are going crazy; can a new diet pill be the cause? RoboCop bails out OCP again, with the help of the new super-slick foam being issued to the police. "Pudface" Morgan shows up again. '''Episode 4 Officer Missing. '''RoboCop is hurt and on the run. Can he be rescued in time? Power shortages cripple Old Detroit. RoboCop takes the Chairman on patrol. ex-OCP employee's portable "turbo-generators" are developed by OCP. His son needs a lung transplant. He manages to repair RoboCop enough so that Robo can fight off the street gang that is terrorizing the power-less neighborhoods. '''Episode 5 What Money Can't Buy. ' The boy from the last episode is transported to a hospital. A lung donor is prepared for him, but a terrorist and his girlfriend steal the lungs. 'Episode 6 Ghosts of War. ' A group of mentally unstable Amazon War vets are manipulated into stealing top-secret weapons. In order to accomplish their mission--to destroy MetroNet and NeuroBrain--they must steal "Omnium", the new element wich powers Delta City's "cold-fusion" reactor. Can RoboCop stop them in time? One of Alex Murphy's childhood friends--Sgt. Frank Uno--is among the vets. He is killed in the final fire-fight. 'Episode 7 Zone Five. ' OCP assigns police duties in Zone Five exclusively to the Community Action Patrol, a.k.a. the "C.A.P. Crew"--made up entirely of ex- cons!. RoboCop must expose their illegal activities before Jimmy Murphy is killed. The C.A.P. Crew is established as an experiment by one of OCP's execs, and they initially save OCP 12.25% of what regular police would cost. Sgt. Parks strongly believes that the whole thing is a mistake, and is vindicated when Detective Madigan provides the crucial evidence, videotaping the Crew in the act of making and distributing "Fun", a deadly new designer drug. At almost the same time, Jimmy Murphy, who has joined the Crew, sees too much and is taken prisoner. Armed with this evidence and motivation, Robocop busts the Crew and saves Jimmy 'Episode 8 Provision 22. ' A controversial piece of legislation puts Nancy Murphy in danger. RoboCop must find a loophole before Nancy is permanently injured. He gets it when he discovers that a paperwork snafu made her arrest illegal. Nancy Murphy is on welfare because Alex's pension has been held up due to technicalities. Web Care is responsible for managing welfare, which is now privatized in Delta City and Old Detroit. OCP is testing the concept before taking it nationwide. Nancy has made a lot of friends at the Mission, where Jimmy stays from time to time while Nancy works in an illegal sweatshop. Provision 22 makes it illegal to work and receive welfare at the same time. Web Care has its' own security force, which is equipped with electric shock devices--cattle prods, really. They are known as the "Mod Squad", and are responsible for enforcing Provision 22. Web Care must file an ITA ("Intent To Arrest") form with the District Attorney's office before arresting anyone for working illegally. Once arrested, the suspects are "rehabilitated" (read: brainwashed), then released. They are not processed through the normal court system. RoboCop discovers that Web Care did not file an ITA form before arresting Nancy Murphy, so he storms right into Web Care and springs her. Nancy goes right back to the Mission and orders a press conference to be held immediately. But a cop's work is never done; Web Care's administrators, who have been cheating people out of their benefits ever since they got the job, have planned one more strike. They've hired a notorious arsonist to plant a bomb in a van outside the mission. But first, there is a magnetic resonance projector, modified to project a sonic pulse which will resonate inside the human cranial cavity and cause permanent brain damage. The Chairman has discovered proof of the Web Care administrators' criminal activity and fired them--but he doesn't know about the bomb or the MRP. While RoboCop is surveying the area just outside the mission during the press conference, he discovers Detective Lisa Madigan tied up in the van with the bomb and the MRP. The arsonist K.O.'ed her when she wasn't looking and gleefully explained the whole thing--when she came to--before locking her in the van. While Madigan evacuates the mission, Robocop shoves the van into an abandoned building across the street. He changes the frequency of the MRP to something really loud but not permanently damaging. Then the bomb goes off, destroying the building. RoboCop is O.K., and Det. Madigan arrests the arsonist, who is eager to make a deal. The Chairman orders the arrest of the Web Care administrators, which Madigan sarcastically acknowledges. There is a final shot of RoboCop and Nancy Murphy 'Episode 9 Faces Of Eve. ' A new OCP product--the "Eve Face"--gives people instant, painless plastic surgery; the ability to look like anyone or anything they want. Unfortunately, it only lasts 3 hours and Pudface Morgan is already plotting to use it for his own ends--to kill RoboCop. A bunch of reporters practically break down Murphys' door to get an interview with Jimmy, who was an eyewitness to the attempted murder of the judge who sentenced Pudface Morgan to jail. Pudface's goons kidnap the kid--but not before Robo puts a tracer on their van. The "Eve" system even duplicates retinal patterns perfectly! Pudface uses this feature to access the Chairman's personal files and activate the Cyborg Termination Sequence. Robo's sinking fast. RoboCop manages to contact Diana, who slows down Robo's termination and e-mails Charlie Lippencott, Robo's personal maintenance tech. Charlie hacks into OCP's SatNet and uses his own "backdoor" password to access Robo's systems and cancel the termination sequence. Fully restored, RoboCop takes out Pudface and Jimmy Murphy gets a medal for helping the police. 'Episode 10 When Justice Fails. ' RoboCop is assigned to protect a corporate raider with lots of enemies. Can he reform her before it's too late? OCP has developed the "SpaceTram", apparently the next generation of manned spacecraft. The astronauts, "a Catholic, a Protestant, a Musilm and a Jew", are outfitted in spacesuits similar to the Space Shuttle astronauts of the '90s. The Space-Tram is powered by Cryo-Fuel, which has been developed by Cryonautics Corp. The problem is, it's unstable; if the SpaceTram takes off with Cryo-Fuel in its' tanks, it'll explode about 10 hrs. after launch when the fuel decrystalizes. Tori Tolan--the corporate raider in question--has taken over Cryonautics Corp. in order to make a quick profit. Her partner, J.J., is completely ruthless, even to the point of setting off a bomb near Tori in order to implicate an ex- Cryonautics employee. He then kills the guy and then lies about the guy perhaps having a gun--effectively. RoboCop's voice stress analyzer can't determine if he's lying or not. Detective Madigan investigates Cryonautics Corp., but is discovered. J.J. knocks her out, then uses her gun to kill Lab Tech Marley (who was about to reveal everything), and wounds Merritt (who was arguing with Marley). J.J. takes Tori to the CN lab where he discovers the proof that Cryo-Fuel is unstable-- a printout that Marley had hidden. RoboCop shows up and tries to arrest J.J. J.J. puts a gun to Tori's head and threatens to kill her if Robo doesn't put down his gun. Robo complies, and J.J. shoots a pipe full of some sub-zero material. The stuff freezes RoboCop, who experiences crticial systems failures. Tori fights J.J. when he tries to hit Robo with a pipe, buying Robo enough time to un-freeze himself and beat up J.J. J.J. tries to make a break for it, but slips on the ice created when he shot the pipe, sliding right into the sub-zero plume. He freezes to death within seconds, and his body crumbles into fragments. Robo makes an emergency call to the Chairman, and Tori convinces him to abort the launch. Tori returns Cryonautics to its' original owners and decides to leave the material world behind--joining a swami at a health spa. 'Episode 11 The Human Factor. ' A disgruntled ex-OCP employee threatens to destroy Delta City with a nuclear weapon. Russell Murphy (Captain, DPD, ret.), who helped put this guy in jail twelve years ago, proves invaluable in helping RoboCop defeat him, despite the Chairman's establishing the "elite" Anti-Corporate Terrorism Squad ("A.C.T.S."). Murphy points out to RoboCop that the crimes were always patterned after a certain type of spiderweb. By searching through a database of spider webs they find a match and find the next location. 'Episode 12 Inside Crime. ' Pudface Morgan takes advantage of the "Inside Crime" TV show to rob OCP. He is collaborating with a female OCP exec. "Inside Crime" is a TV show that follows criminals while they commit their crimes. It's a big hit, but the police hate it; it's making Pudface into a cult hero, not to mention making their jobs harder. RoboCop tries to bust Pudface in the middle of an "Inside Crime" shoot. Rochelle Carney, the exec in charge of "Inside Crime", is secretly in league with Pudface. RoboCop eventually busts Pudface and exposes Ms. Carney. She resigns, and "Inside Crime" is cancelled. OCP comes up with a new show: "Those Darn Vigilantes!". 'Episode 13 RoboCop vs Commander Cash. ' Special guest star '''"Rowdy" Roddy Piper as "Commander Cash". The creator of a top-secret message encryption program takes his revenge on OCP and the man who betrayed him; Simon Atwater, currently VP of Child Development. Commander Cash "Super Flakes" cereal has a special ingredient in it that is activated by "a common phosphorus-calcium-based household chemical", but is undetectable otherwise. When you eat it, it makes you susceptible to subliminal advertising. Robocop discovers this, and saves the children of America from being brainwashed. The superhero always wins. He never lies, never breaks the law, and never rests until the villain is brought to justice. He also provides a good example for children. 'Episode 14 Illusions. ' A magician teams up with a gunrunner to kill RoboCop. RoboCop leads an illegal-weapons bust, but the boss, Reggie Braga, escapes indictment. He employs an assassin, "the Magician", to take out RoboCop. Braga is planning a new shipment, while the Magician sends his hired guns to kill the Chairman of OCP. Det. Madigan invesitages the Magician, and meets another one--a very handsome, charming guy. She gets a lead from a poster of "Milo the Magnificent" on the wall of the guy's store. Schmidt & Wilson, the hit team employed by the Magician, plan to make their attempt on the Chairman at the unveiling of the new Interceptor Mark II, being developed by Security Concepts as the next generation of police cars. The next day, the Interceptor II is to be field-tested, with RoboCop at the wheel. While Robo is getting the Interceptor warmed up, Foster gives his secretary a big ol' smooch--right in public!--distracting her. The I2 rolls out, and then blows up; supposedly with RoboCop inside! 'Episode 15 The Tin Man. ' Murphy's old partner has been transformed into a zombie (of sorts) under the control of a ruthless OCP executive. When Murphy was a rookie, his partner, Philip Malloy, used excessive force on a suspect. Murphy testified against him in court, and Malloy went to prison. While he was in prison, Malloy became the subject of an OCP experiment to seperate his emotions from his consciousness. The former warden of the prison where Malloy was kept is now an OCP executive, hoping to use Malloy to further his own career. Malloy is outfitted with the latest body armor and small-arms from OCP Security Concepts, transforming him into "The Vigilante", who goes after crooks without regard for due process. Unfortunately, the scheme backfires when Robocop discovers who the "Vigilante" is, while the crooks he was supposed to fight team up to form one huge illegal gambling syndicate. RoboCop eventually catches up to the crooks, and defeats them in a huge firefight. In the process, he helps Malloy recover his memories and personality. Malloy is supposedly killed when an explosion blows him through a wall and into a nearby river. Madigan calls for search-and-rescue, but it seems that Malloy is nowhere to be found. OCP has developed a "Commander Cash" scratch-and-win lottery ticket with a huge jackpot. It only costs a dollar to play, but the odds of winning are (of course) astronomical. Also, the U.S. Treasury has issued a Ronald Reagan $1 coin, a.k.a. the "Ronnie". The DPD gets a lot of memos from OCP. Sgt. Parks never reads them--he just initials them. This comes back to haunt him when his initials allow a coin-op "Commander Cash" Lottery kiosk to be installed in the precinct. Gadget steals Ronnies from everyone so she can play, hoping to win the jackpot so she can buy the Sarge a boat 'Episode 16 Sisters in Crime. ' The Chairman of OCP is kidnapped and forced to do housework! Meanwhile, OCP Board member Harold Hammer is plotting a corporate coup d'etat, while co-conspirator Chip Chaken secretly plots with fellow ex- OCP exec Rochelle Carney to steal half of OCP's stock before anyone knows what hit them. W.O.M.B. (Women for the Overthrow of Male Bondage) is a pro-feminist activist group, protesting "unfair" labor practices at OCP. RoboCop arrests two of them for defacing police property--him! But there's more to it than meets the eye; the Radical Femmes (a splinter group) have conspired with Rochelle Carney (who is secretly in league with Chip Chayken) to kidnap the Chairman and force him to miss a meeting with Board of Directors. If he doesn't show up, his stock will be proxied among the other board members, and co-conspirator Harold Hammer will take over as Chairman. Before that happens, however, Chayken and Carney are going to loot OCP's assets for all they're worth, leaving Hammer in charge of a nearly-bankrupt OCP--and the Radical Femmes to take the fall. Chip Chayken manages to bluff his way into a meeting with the Chairman-- disguised as a woman!--with two members of the Radical Femmes at his side. They force the Chairman to wear women's clothing, then sneak him out of the building. Chaken then uploads a virus into MetroNet, especially designed to take out Diana without crashing NeuroBrain or MetroNet. RoboCop discovers this when he reviews security camera footage, detailing Chayken's illegal actions. Robo uploads his anti-virus program and frees Diana. She traces Chayken's vid-phone calls to Harold Hammer's estate. Hammer initially denies everything, but finally admits that Chayken is on the premises. Chip and Rochelle try to run over RoboCop, and it looks like they did--but Robo is hanging onto the roof of their car. Using his Auto-9 to take out the engine, Robo orders them to surrender. Chaken pulls a gun and uses Ms. Carney as a human shield. Diana then steps in, broadcasting her voice over the P.A. system (?), and using the street lights to project electric shocks, eventually rendering Chayken unconscious 'Episode 17 Heartbreakers. ' After learning that Robocop was once officer Alex Murphy, a madman tries to commit crimes by holding his wife hostage. 'Episode 18 Mother's Day. ' Robocop suspects Gadget's natural mother is involved in a plot with Russian crime boss Vlad Molotov and his sidekick Nadia. Gadget's mother, Sally Modesto, is in debt to gangster Vladimir "Stitch" Molotov, so she agrees to work for him, and to con Gadget into agreeing to live with her. Gadget would then be used as a hostage to force Sgt. Parks to withdraw his upcoming testimony against Molotov. 'Episode 19 Nanno. ' A former government official forces a scientist to create microscopic robots to commit crimes. Meanwhile, Madigan is crippled in a bus crash. 'Episode 20 Corporate Raiders. '''Robocop and Madigan battle a corrupt union leader and his secretary as they pursue an ex-terrorist. '''Episode 21 Midnight Minus One. ' OCP is developing a new worldwide police information network. Unfortunately, the creator has his own ideas for making a killing; offering to erase the criminal records of the world's biggest crooks-- for a price. He almost gets rid of RoboCop in a car-crusher, but Robo finds enough inner strength to exceed his designed strength limits and escape. 'Episode 22 Public Enemies. ' Robocop must deal with three dangerous criminals who are out to destroy him: Dr. Cray Mallardo, Chip Chayken and Pudface Morgan. The criminals cleverly decided to first attack Robocop's spare parts warehouse. Trivia ROBOCOP: THE SERIES takes place two years after the original ROBOCOP film. It ignores some things from the two subsequent motion pictures. Murphy’s former partner, Lewis is not one of the regulars in the TV series. The police station featured in the series is Metro South as opposed to Metro West in the movies. Michael Miner and Ed Neumeier scripted an unused RoboCop sequel, Orion went in a different direction, but elements of this unused sequel appear in the pilot for the television series. The production company wasn’t aware the RoboCop writing duo had the right of first refusal to write and ROBOCOP TV pilot. When they read about the announced series, they contacted the producers and they had a meeting of minds. This episode "Prime Suspect" plays out like a remake of "The Fugitive" movie, with Robocop in the role of Kimball. Even going so far as to replicate the Kimball/Gerard face off in the sewers down to the dialogue. This Episode was also based on the "Prime Suspect" Dark Horse comic. The Old Man, as he is called in the movies is, for legal reasons, called the Chairman in the series. For legal reasons Murphy's wife is called Nancy in the series and not Ellen as she is in the movies. The gun on the TV series is a lighter version of the one in the first movie. The original was a 9mm weapon. They created a lighter gun when importing the real gun into Canada proved difficult. It is easier to handle by the actor in the Robo-suit. The series films in Canada for around $1.25 million per episode. Ten series scripts were ready for production when principal photography ended on the pilot. Cinespace studios in Toronto devoted fifty thousand square feet of permanent sets to simulate Old Detroit and its environs, including Omni-Consumer Products headquaters. Home videos and merchandise The episode "What Money Can't Buy" was released on VHS on March 28, 1995. Episodes of the series were also released in a Japanese laserdisc set. They include "First Suspect," "Delta City," and "Absence of Police." An action figure collection for the series was produced by little-known Toy Island, a company that would continue making RoboCop figures in the future. The basic series includes RoboCop, Madigan, Stan Parks, Commander Cash (also released as "Commandant Cash"), and Pudface. It also features the OCP Interceptor, Tactical Field Vehicle, Tactical Field Ambulance, Mobile Armored Detective Vehicle, and Cyrochamber playset. In 1995, the Power Glow figure series was released. This includes RoboCop variations with illuminating armor such as a basic RoboCop (blue), Thermo Shield RoboCop (red), and Xicor Shield RoboCop (lime green). Each figure in the collection includes various accessories and several points of articulation. A soundtrack entitled A Future to This Life was released January 24, 1995 on both CD and cassette by Pyramid Records. Aside from the show's theme writers, Joe Walsh & Lita Ford, it features classic rock songs from groups like The Band, The Flamingos, Iron Butterfly, and KC & the Sunshine Band. The series has been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK and Region 4 DVD in Australia. References External links * [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108909/ RoboCop: The Series] at the Internet Movie Database * [http://www.tv.com/show/3481/summary.html RoboCop: The Series] at TV.com * RoboCop Archive - RoboCop: The Series Category:Television